


The Emotion That Binds Us

by fromstarlighttodust



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Beauty and the Beast Elements, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Fluff and fluff and fluff, Imaginary Friends, Not so imaginary friend, based on art, halloween fic, kind of slenderman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 11:23:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16474619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromstarlighttodust/pseuds/fromstarlighttodust
Summary: Yuuri has always been alone except for one special exception. He has an imaginary friend, Viktor. When it turns out Viktor might not be so imaginary after all will Yuuri be able to help his friend?





	The Emotion That Binds Us

Yuuri wasn’t like other children. He was quiet and shy and a frequent target for bullying. Often times, he found himself alone, playing by himself or reading in a corner where the other children wouldn’t bother him. It really was no surprise to anyone when he found an imaginary friend.

Yuuri’s friend, who he dubbed ‘Viktor’ after a figure skater he had seen on TV once but had disappeared shortly after his debut due to the silver hair color they shared, was a tall and gangly creature with extra, tentacle like arms, who couldn’t seem to make all his limbs have the same idea. While Viktor didn’t have a face and couldn’t talk, Yuuri never had trouble understanding him. Viktor was very good at using body language, after all.

When the other children would bully Yuuri until he cried, Viktor would appear and gently pet his head and sometimes bring him gifts to cheer him up. A cupcake with brightly colored icing, a shiny rock or a pretty shell, whatever Viktor thought would make Yuuri smile again.

With no point of reference, Yuuri thought this was normal. He thought that everyone’s imaginary friend was like Viktor. That they never went away, that they stayed by your side well beyond childhood years. It wasn’t until Yuuko, the only girl to never bully him that Yuuri would dare call a friend, asked Yuuri where he got his keychain that he learned otherwise. They were both 18 at this point, nearing freedom from high school when everything changed.

“My imaginary friend gave it to me,” Yuuri said with a soft smile.

Yuuko wrinkled her brow. “Your imaginary friend?”

“Yes,” Yuuri nodded. “His name is Viktor.”

“You mean, someone you don’t want to tell me about?” Yuuko asked.

Yuuri frowned. “No, my friend, Viktor. He’s right over there.”

Yuuko looked at where Yuuri was pointing and weakly smiled. “Hello, Viktor…” She said.

Viktor coiled his body around and tilted his head to the side and lifted one hand in greeting. Yuuri smiled as Viktor waved hello, but Yuuko froze. Her mouth opened and she squeaked in terror.

“Yuuko?” Yuuri looked at her in confusion.

“Yuuri, what  _ was _ that?” Yuuko hissed, fear written all over her face.

Yuuri frowned. What?”

“That… Thing without a face? What is it?” Yuuko grabbed Yuuri’s arm.

Slowly, Yuuri turned to Viktor before looking back at Yuuko. “You could see him?”

“That was Viktor? I could only see it for a second, but Yuuri, that looks like a bad spirit,” Yuuko’s eyes shot back over to where Viktor had been.

Yuuri pulled his arm from her grasp even as he saw Viktor contorting around in distress. “Viktor isn’t a bad spirit. He’s my friend, and the only one i had for a really long time. He’s kind and gentle.”

Yuuko gaped at him as he walked over to Viktor. “Come on, it’s okay. I know you’re not bad. Let’s go home.”

Viktor followed Yuuri most of the way home like he always did before branching off and letting Yuuri finish the trip alone. At first, Yuuri had been curious why Viktor never came to his home with him, but now he just accepted it, as he did everything else Viktor did.

Alone in his room, Yuuri stared at his laptop. He didn’t believe that Viktor could be a bad spirit like Yuuko had said, but the fact that she had seen him for even a moment gave Yuuri pause. After a bit of hesitation, he began googling.

The closest thing to Viktor he could find accounts of was what was commonly known as a creature of loneliness. The internet couldn’t seem to agree if the creature caused powerful negative emotions in the humans it came in contact with or if it was attracted to them. There were accounts of people having grave misfortune after coming in contact with the creature, but as Yuuri played with a smooth rock sitting on his desk that Viktor had given to him, he couldn’t bring himself to think that the other would bring him any sort of harm.

The origins of these creatures were an even more muddled argument on the internet. Some people claimed they were a manifestation of a person’s loneliness that followed them like a sad cloud. Some said that they were demons that haunted their victims. Others still thought that they were like Fey. One person even claimed that they were once humans that were changed by experiencing extreme negative emotions for so long that they were consumed by them completely.

Yuuri sat back in his desk chair, slowly closing his laptop. Viktor was a creature of loneliness. Viktor always kept Yuuri company when he was by himself. Viktor selflessly looked after Yuuri even when he spent so much time alone. Viktor was alone now, outside by himself. A creature of loneliness, consumed by the emotion, alone, waiting for Yuuri to come back to him. He stared at the machine for a few second before he got up and ran out of his house. Sprinting down the street, he ran to the park that Viktor would usually wait for him in. He ran until he found him, sitting on a swing all by himself.

“You’re lonely,” Yuuri panted out. “Aren’t you?”

Viktor tilted his head to the side and reached a tentacle out to Yuuri. Yuuri caught it mid reach and nuzzled his face into the limb. “You’re lonely. You’ve been lonely for a really long time and you found me because I was always alone, too. You didn’t want me to be sad. That’s why you always stayed by my side, why you tried so hard to make me happy. That’s why you never come to my home, because I have a family there, so you thought I didn’t need you.”

Viktor gently curled the tentacle around Yuuri’s wrist and squeezed gently. Yuuri Took a few large steps forward and wrapped Viktor in a tight hug. After a few moments of silence, he pulled back and took Viktor’s hand. “Come home with me. It’s not all about me, you’re by yourself, too. I promise I will stay by your side from now on and you won’t ever have to be lonely again.”

Viktor tilted his head to the side even as his gangly frame hunched over to accommodate Yuuri’s shorter frame pulling him along.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Yuuri grumbled softly without even looking back. “After all you’ve done for me, it’s the least I could do.”

That night, Yuuri slept with all of Viktor’s limbs curled around him, the two of them crammed into Yuuri’s twin sized mattress. It was far too small for the two of them, but neither of them were bothered. Just before he drifted off, Yuuri placed a gentle kiss where Viktor’s cheek should be. “I love you, Viktor,” he whispered. “I always will.”

He fell asleep to the feeling of long, gentle fingers stroking through his hair.

When the morning light streamed into Yuuri’s window, he woke slowly as always. The first thing he was aware of was the weight laying across his chest and stomach. For a moment, He was surprised, but then he remembered Viktor was with him and relaxed. Until he noticed a suspicious lack of extra limbs. No tentacles wrapped around Yuuri, and the person laying on him seemed to be a lot shorter than Viktor, too.

His eyes shot open and he looked down to see a familiar head of silver hair laying on his chest, but there wasn’t any tentacles or overly long arms and legs… In fact, the person laying on his chest looked like a human. When the person stirred, he turned to look at Yuuri and the brunette gasped and scrambled backwards as best he could, all but dumping this man of of his lap, when he saw the face before him. The fact that there  _ was one _ was concerning and in any other situation, that fact would have struck Yuuri as hilarious. He scrambled to shove his glasses onto his face and stared at the person before him.

This Viktor-esque human tilted his head to the side and reached out for Yuuri who sat, frozen. When the man saw his hand, though, he froze, too. He looked at the normal length fingers in wonder before he started to feel himself all over and then let out a quiet squeak.

His mouth opened as he looked at Yuuri with tears in his eyes. It took him a few moments, but he finally managed to whisper out, “Yuuri.”

Yuuri leaned forward and slowly touched the face before him. “Viktor?”

Viktor nodded. “I-It’s me. I’m-I’m back,” Viktor stuttered out, his voice rough from not using it.

“You’re not… Like ten feet tall,” Yuuri gasped, dumbfounded. “You have a face!”

Viktor laughed. Despite the rust in his vocal cords, it was a beautiful sound. “I had a face before I became… that.”

“How did this happen?” Yuuri asked, still cupping Viktor’s face in his hands like it was going to disappear before his very eyes.

“You were right,” Viktor said softly. “I was lonely. So lonely for so long. Before all of this, I was a successful figure skater and everyone wanted to be near me for my fame, but not for me. Eventually it took its toll and I turned into that creature and wandered around aimlessly, not knowing what to do. No one could see me, I was all by myself. And then I felt the same powerful sadness, the same loneliness coming from you so… I tried to help. I figured… We both didn’t need to be that way and I was happy to help you, but then you said you would stay with me and that you loved me and… There was such powerful happiness that I didn’t know what to do with it all and then I woke up like this.”

Yuuri blinked several times, before he narrowed his eyes. “You’re Viktor Nikiforov.”

Viktor tilted his head to the side and then nodded. “I am.”

Yuuri facepalmed. “I named you after yourself.”

Viktor threw his head back and laughed. “I did wonder how you knew my name. Eventually I kind of assumed it was a really lucky coincidence.”

Yuuri flopped back against his pillows. “In my defense, I thought you were imaginary for a really long time.”

Viktor was quiet for a while before he reached out and gently tugged on Yuuri’s sleeve. “Will you still stay by my side now that I have a face?”

Yuuri lifted his head and could almost see the tentacles forming on Viktor’s back again. Without hesitation, he dove forward and enveloped the silver haired man in a tight hug. “ _ Of course _ I will. You can’t get rid of me just because you got your face back.”

After a moment, Viktor’s arms came up and wrapped around Yuuri in return. They hugged for a while before Viktor pulled back and looked Yuuri in his eyes. “I couldn’t say it last night, but I love you, too, Yuuri.”

Yuuri’s eyes brimmed with tears and he buried his face into Viktor’s shoulder. “Stay close to me, Viktor. We will never have to be lonely again as long as we stay together,” he whispered.

Viktor nodded. “Okay,” he whispered back. “I’ll stay. Forever.”

“Forever,” Yuuri echoed.


End file.
